Reward stickers at nursery accused of having a 'dark side'

Nursery staff can often struggle to get young children to sit still or share toys and so they can resort to using reward sticker charts to try and change their behaviour.

For some practitioners, these reward systems are a godsend, while for others, they are anathema, with a psychotherapist accusing them of having a "dark side".

Debbie Hickson, who runs a pre-school in Caterham, Surrey, is a big fan of reward stickers.

She gives out stickers for “positive behaviour” like “being nice to another child and helping out” and when a child has 10, they get to choose a prize from the treasure chest. “We encourage all of the children to be pleased for the child that receives their star chart, which usually happens now without being asked to. They are excited to show their parents or carers at the end of the session.”

She has also found it stimulates conversation between the child and the parents as she says: “We also write in the contact book why they got the sticker, so it encourages parents to ask about their day and why they got the sticker. So when a child says they’ve done nothing all day, the parents can say but you got a sticker from ... tell me about it. We’ve been running this scheme for 15 years and the children and parents like it.”

Fellow practitioner Zoe Semple agrees the stickers are a “good visual reminder to share good news at the end of the day”.

'I love seeing their faces' when they get a sticker

Nursery teacher Jenny Guest says: “I love giving the kids a little sticker for effort and have done so for the whole of my 22 years of teaching and will continue to do so.

“I love seeing their faces and letting them choose from the sheet which one they like. If they can't remember why they have got them I will happily explain to parents or those who pick the children up. It may be short term fulfilment for the kids but in a system that puts so much pressure on them then I feel a little fulfilment and appreciation for effort won’t do them any harm. I also take great joy in choosing the stickers and link them to the children's interests.”

However, Alfie Kohn, who has written a series of books on parenting, which include Unconditional Parenting and Punished by Rewards, believes rewards only lead to temporary compliance and says: “Unfortunately, carrots turn out to be no more effective than sticks at helping children to become caring, responsible people or lifelong, self-directed learners.”

He points to studies which have shown behaviour modifications systems “are rarely successful at producing lasting changes in attitudes or even behaviour”. Mr Kohn claims punishments and rewards are essentially two sides of the same coin as their aim is to manipulate behaviour with neither stimulating a child to think “what kind of person do I want to be?”

He concludes: “In short, good values have to be grown from the inside out. Attempts to short-circuit this process by dangling rewards in front of children are at best ineffective, and at worst counterproductive.”

'Rewards only work in the short term'

Helen Irving who runs Early Years Training Surrey echoes these sentiments, saying: “Rewards only work in the short term and can have detrimental effects”. She added: Social praise is far more rewarding and better in the long run”.

Suzanne Gadilhe reveals that as parent, she hates them, saying: “As others have said above, they encourage extrinsic motivation rather than cultivating intrinsic motivation.”

Some claim reward stickers are unfair as there can be a lack of consistency with awarding them and this can lead to some children never getting stickers which can be hugely demoralising.

Katie Hurley, a child and adolescent psychotherapist author of The Happy Kid Handbook: How to Raise Joyful Children in a Stressful World, believes there is a “dark side” to reward sticker charts, saying for the child who doesn’t earn the stickers, these charts can be “shame-inducing” leaving children feeling worthless and incapable.

'There will always be a child who never gets a sticker however hard they try'

Nursery practitioner Chris Mis points out there “will always been one child in the class who never gets a sticker no matter how hard they try. They will see the loud kid get a sticker for sitting quietly on one occasion, the eager, outgoing kid who always wants to help will get a sticker for helping. The confident talker will get a sticker for answering a question, the child who goes through their first day not having a wee accident all day gets a sticker.

“Meanwhile this child who always sits nicely, helps when asked but too shy to offer, knows the answer but is too nervous to call out and independently goes to the toilet never gets a sticker because their behaviour is deemed as normal.”

Early years practitioner Samantha Chapman gets around the issue of inconsistency “by giving one to everyone if I’m giving them”.

While Laureen Moore says: “We have stickers, we write all the children’s names on every Monday. We also have a well done tree on the wall. This means every child gets a sticker every week and gets targeted specific praise. This might be for being kind, for sharing, being helpful, joining in a discussion activity, whatever is relevant to each child. They put their sticker on the well done tree and on Friday morning, we look at who hasn't got one yet and catch them doing something positive that day.”

Amy Dee, who did a degree in early years education did a research study on rewards. She reveals “my data showed that not all practitioners reward in the same way and so creates inconsistency. It also showed that to promote resilience and determination, intrinsic motivation needs to be fostered. Stickers are an extrinsic motivator meaning children are working towards gaining a sticker not doing the right thing or challenging themselves for their own self satisfaction.

“I also noticed children were just as likely to behave and work hard with verbal praise alone, actually this works better most of the time. I also hate traffic light charts as children who end up on red have their ‘bad’ behaviour on display for all to see all day and this does nothing to motivate them to change. However, unexpected rewards did nothing to children's motivation so always worth randomly awarding a child.”

'Those shiny stickers certainly put a smile on my face'

Certainly, the power of reward stickers should not be underestimated, particularly their ability to stir up a debate.

One practitioner points out that people whatever age they are like to be given a sticker. Practitioner Nichola Bolton says: “Just to play devil's advocate. I currently attend Slimming world, I love receiving a shiny sticker for my book when I reach a goal, it definitely motivates me each week to achieving my next one, even though my weight loss is my true goal, and getting into clothes that haven’t fit for a while is fab, those shiny stickers certainly put a smile on my face!”